Scoop Wholefoods Master Class in Making Peanut Butter

It can be exhausting and sometimes I reach my threshold and find myself saying, ‘We’re now going to have half an hour where you don’t ask me any questions. I’m setting the timer.’ And in that half hour Alfie will find other people to target.

Like recently when we were in Scoop Wholefoods and he spied the peanut butter making machine. ‘What’s this?’ he asked Bettina, the owner, but that was just his first question. He followed it up with, ‘How does it work?’ And, ‘Are these the peanuts?’ and ‘What does this button do?’ and ‘How loud is the motor?’ and ‘Are you making some now?’ and ‘Can I have a turn?’

The peanut butter machine

Well no, Bettina wasn’t making any that afternoon but sensing Alfie was very intrigued she invited him to come in early one morning before the shop opens to operate the machine and make his very own jar of peanut butter. Excellent! Another school holiday outing scheduled.

The very serious business of hand washing

One day this week we walked to Scoop with Alfie saying, ‘This is the earliest we have ever been to the shops, isn’t it?’ as he held our glass jar (previously purchased at Scoop) that we were bringing back to fill with peanut butter.

Peanuts going into the machine

First we had the very serious business of hand washing then it was time to put on the gloves and Bettina found him a seat in front of the machine. Bettina scooped the nuts into the top of the gadget and told us that to make peanut butter with lovely consistency you have to buy the right kind of peanuts. You can’t use raw peanuts as they won’t release the oil so you’ll end up with very, very dry peanut butter and you can’t use roasted peanuts because they won’t give you a good result either. You have to use peanuts that have been lightly roasted as this helps them release the oil.

All boys love those red buttons

So Alfie was ready to get going and he told Bettina we wanted to make crunchy peanut butter so the dial was turned to the ‘crunchy’ sign. Ready to go, he positioned our jar then pressed the red button. All boys love to press red buttons! Alfie rotated the jar as the peanut butter started to appear then gave the jar a shake to help the contents settle while continuing to fill the jar. He made six jars of crunchy and three glasses of smooth.

Keeping his finger on that red button

He was amazed that the only ingredient you need to make peanut butter is peanuts! Scoop Wholefoods sells a lot of peanut butter because everyone likes the fact they know exactly what’s gone into those jars – nuts!

Taking his master class very seriously

As a thank you for all his hard work, Bettina gave him his peanut butter as payment for services rendered.

First jar nearly made

We took our jar and headed off to the cafe where Archie was working and ordered milkshakes.

Alfie is so adorable! And I know about the whole question thing, I too have an 8 yr old, not so much about peanut butter (probably because he doesn’t like it) but everything else.
It’s really nice that Alfie got a chance to operate the machine, it’s great hands on stuff.
Here in the US most of our grocery shops have the DIY peanut butter machine and you crank your own. I guess it’s fun, I’ve never had a go!

G’day and what rock have I been under Charlie, true!
Didn’t know there was a peanut machine to make peanut butter, but makes sense too!
What fun, especially for Alfie!
Who wants to play and buy via the machine now…ME! 🙂
Cheers! Joanne

What an awesome lady doing that, now in life everybody seems to busy to make that extra effort like above. Have a happy holiday, ours have just started here in NZ too, but having 18 year olds they don’t really want me around anymore, but I can live with that lol.

An inquisitive mind is an admirble thing, I hope he never loses his sense of wonder and desire to learn how things work — and yes, raising such a child can be exhausting! So cute, bet he had a great time. 🙂

How lovely of Bettina! And Alfie learnt so much that morning – how peanut butter is made, the different grinds, the importance of hygiene, and earning a “wage”! Bet that pb is the most delicious ever! 🙂

What a fun experience. When my kids were younger they would have loved this as well. In fact I’m sure they still would and so would I. A great learning experience and I wasn’t aware of the types of peanuts required to get the perfect peanut butter.

Now that you have so many jars, what will you do with them? Just eat them or prepare some special dishes?

Hehe I’ve been told that I ask too many questions too. I was talking to a flight attendant on the plane and I swear I could have asked him questions for the entire 15 hour flight. But he had people to attend to 😛

I have to laugh because the main reason I use the peanut butter making machine to make our peanut butter is because “I” like to push that button and watch the butter come out. So I’m with you Alfie! Nothing better! 🙂

Oh ……….the questions! How nice that Bettina invited Alfie to make his own peanut butter. All 8 year olds should have this opportunity to see what goes into making peanut butter. Great educational holiday experience.

Gosh I hope my nephew doesn’t ask that many questions haha he’s still kind of quiet now but he’ll probably be asking me so many more questions next time I go back to HK hehe but it’s kind of cute that they’re so curious!

So nice of Bettina to let Alfie make his own peanut butter would love to try myself hehe

Oh I have a question asker too, it is RELENTLESS. I’m impressed you can put him off for half an hour every now and then. I try and she lasts two or three minutes before she can’t resist another question… and another…. and another. Curiosity is a great thing, but boy is it exhausting for mothers.